Mr. Morris does not so much tell the Layla-Majnun story as refract it, ritualize it, multiply it. The emphasis is all on emotion. The staging... is visually beautiful... Mr. Morris’s choreography deconstructs and distills the poetic legend with charm and taste.
San Francisco Chronicle: Morris premiere an excess of riches
Do we watch the incomparable musicians [of the Silk Road Ensemble]? Or do we fix our gaze on the 16 amazing dancers of the Mark Morris Dance Group enacting this tragedy of impossible love in front of the boldly hued and textured backdrop by Howard Hodgkin, all aglow in James F. Ingalls’ lighting?
Inevitably, as the 65-minute work progresses, you find yourself immersed in something organic and wonderful.
NPR "Here and Now": Choreographer Mark Morris Puts 21st-Century Spin On 12th-Century Love Poem
Mark Morris speaks with "Here and Now's" Robin Young.
"The music is very, very appealing. The story is, of course, universal, like every good story...people who aren’t used to hearing this kind of music — try it first of all. It’s incredibly ecstatic and thrilling. It reminds me of... very popular, a couple of decades ago... the Qawwali style of singing from Pakistan, the Sufi tradition… It’s the heart singing to another heart…” - Mark Morris (interview excerpt)
Cal Alumni Magazine: Crazy Love: Cal Performances Brings Arabia's Iconic Love Story to the West
The epic poem Layla and Majnun is arguably the most famous love story in the Middle East, and yet many Westerners have never heard of it. It is the tale of two teenagers who fall deeply in love but are tragically kept apart, even until death. This September, the tale will come to life in an ambitious operatic production commissioned by Cal Performances and at least ten other organizations, including Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. The artists who have come together to build the opera form the ultimate dream team.
Torange Yeghiazarian, artistic director of a Middle Eastern–American theater company in San Francisco called Golden Thread Productions, sees this new production as a chance for audiences to connect with the Middle East on a different level. “It’s rare that you see the Middle East and beauty and art and love in the same sentence. It has been so vilified, and every day we are bombarded with images painting us as evil or painting the Middle East as something to avoid, if at all possible…. This poem is so passionate and inspirational, and the descriptions are so vivid, how it paints the surroundings and the lushness and ornateness of the space.” But most of all, to her, “These are human stories” that are important because they “provide a shared human experience.”
Newsweek: Arts Projects Aim to Build Bridges Between Muslims, Non-Muslims...
At the Children’s Museum of Manhattan on the Upper West Side in New York City, children and their parents can explore “America to Zanzibar: Muslim Cultures Near and Far,” a recently opened exhibit featuring performances by contemporary Muslim artists, and other programs. Farther downtown, the PEN American Center is developing a Writing While Muslim series of events featuring Muslim and non-Muslim writers of fiction, comedy, film and other genres discussing unity, identity and self-expression. Just across the river, the Brooklyn-based Mark Morris Dance Group will create, perform and foster engagement through a new work, Layla and Majnun, based on a love story told across the Muslim world.
All three projects and five others are to receive grants from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art through its Building Bridges Program [which supports] “organizations whose work advances relationships, increases understanding, and reduces bias between Muslim and non-Muslim communities through immersive arts and culture projects.” The funding comes via the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Cal Performances previews its 2016-17 season
Cal Performances will present the world premiere of Layla and Majnun, a classic story of forbidden love most notably expressed by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. Choreography by Mark Morris, sets and costumes by British artist Howard Hodgkin and music by The Silk Road Ensemble with mugham vocalists Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova.
International Arts Manager: Crazy in Love: Mark Morris Dance Group announces Layla and Majnun project
New York Times: Mark Morris to Choreograph a New Full-Length Work
Despite several precedents in Mr. Morris’s work – his enthusiasm for Asian forms goes back to his earliest days in dance – this is a departure for him, since it couples a story unfamiliar to many Westerners with unfamiliar accompaniment. In the company’s announcement on Tuesday, Mr. Morris said: “The music for ‘Layla and Majnun’ is unusual for its profound depth of sorrow and ecstasy. The mugham style is a thrilling and rare glimpse into old Azerbaijani culture. Love, acceptance, devotion and peace are the ruling esthetics of this production."